Lamentation of Christ

This Lamentation over the Dead Christ shows Jesus's body laid on the stone of anointing, its feet projecting toward the viewer. Mantegna built the scene so that the gaze travels along the foreshortened body until it reaches the bowed, motionless head. The shroud partly covers the corpse and is painted in the same tones as the flesh, which heightens the sense of solidity and stiffness. On the left are the Virgin, wiping her tears with a handkerchief, Saint John, with his hands clasped tightly, and a female figure in shadow, sometimes identified as Mary Magdalene. The perfume vessels suggest that the preparation of the body has already taken place, leaving the mourners only with grief. The sharp contrast between light from the right and deep shadow intensifies the sense of inevitability. The painting stands out for treating death as a final, physical fact, without idealization, which sets it apart from other Renaissance treatments of the subject. Certain features, such as the oversized faces, have led scholars to suggest that some figures may have been added later by another artist. It is probably connected with Mantegna's own funerary chapel.

Painter

Andrea Mantegna

Date

1483

Medium

tempera, canvas

Dimensions

68 × 81 cm

Museum

Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan

Movement

Early Renaissance

Genre

religious art

Depicts

Jesus Christ, Lamentation of Christ

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